The management of Fly High knew they needed to turn the company around immediately. They were constantly rated low in customer satisfaction polls, they were the worst in handling baggage (more lost and more damaged than any of their major competitors), the complaints from passengers had grown by 25 percent, and the employee morale was at its lowest level ever. Fly High was losing money and on the verge of having to lay off hundreds of its 50,000 employees. The board was placing the company’s future in the hands of a new CEO and the management team she was bringing with her. The board had essentially cleaned house, but, then, it was not the first time new management had been brought in to try to turn things around. Fly High had gone through constant change in leadership at the top as well as frequent downsizing and reorganizations, but they had not been able to turn the company around.

The company needed to make drastic changes and fast, and it needed to make them across the entire company, from baggage handlers to pilots. From the reservation desk to the hangars to the corporate offices and the rest of the employees scattered across the globe, no one talked to or worked with anyone else. In fact, the different locations seemed knowingly or unknowingly to work against each other and against the goals of the total company. Some of the middle- and lower-level management adopted an extreme command and control and silo thinking approach to managing, while others used a team-based, participative, cross-functional culture. Employees had reached a point of complacency and cynicism. They lacked a performance ethic and felt management was not open to their ideas about the company. Cutting across all the levels in the organization was a lack of trust for Fly High management and now a lot of skepticism that this new management team would make a difference.

Fly High needed a major change program across the entire company involving all levels of the organization; however, the internal communication was so poor that they did not know where to begin. Communication across the organization or up or down the organizational chain of command was almost nonexistent. A recent HR survey had revealed specific problems in internal communications: Key messages across the company had changed so often that employees were confused and unclear as to the company’s vision, many employees felt afraid to express their ideas or concerns, and management appeared isolated and nonreceptive to the employees at lower levels of the organization. It was clear that the company seriously needed to improve internal communications before any change program could have impact.

The Assignment As part of this new management team, you are charged with addressing the communication challenges and establishing the change communication program.

Outline the steps you would take and develop an action plan for improving communication that will feed directly into the larger change program that Fly High needs to undertake.